Medical association concerned about 'criminalisation' of doctors

The South African Medical Association (Sama) has raised concerns about the charging and prosecution of medical doctors as the case of paediatric surgeon Prof Peter Beale is set for trial next week.

Beale is accused of “unlawfully and intentionally” causing the death of a three-year-old boy in March 2012, a 21-month-old girl in July 2016 and a 10-year-old boy in October 2019 after he had operated on the children.

“From the outset, it is important to acknowledge the immense unimaginable pain of the parents who lost a child. The underlying events are tragic, in every sense of the word,” Sama said on Thursday.

“Sama's concerns about charging, prosecuting and convicting doctors in no way seeks to minimise the effect of such devastating events on the families and loved ones involved. Instead, we are worried that criminalisation of bona fide medical errors and adverse events are an unsuitable response that would do little to prevent future tragedies.”

The law, as it stands and as it is applied, may hamper patient safety and the achievement of a safety culture, it said.

“The criminal justice system often ignores organisational factors to instead target the individual who happened to hold the scalpel when the incident occurred.

“Where a doctor is reckless or grossly negligent, criminal prosecution may be warranted. However, no ethical doctor enters an operating theatre to harm a patient. “And when things go wrong, as they sometimes do in medicine, doctors are just as devastated and often overcome with feelings of guilt.”

Reform was urgently needed, said Sama.

“Charging doctors with murder in cases of medical error is unjustifiably extreme, detrimental to patient safety, may deter doctors from certain risky procedures and specialities and disregards the complexities and challenges inherent in medical practice.”

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